Justin p



"tant @eine JUSTIN P. WOODWORTH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Leners Patent No. 84,243, dated Nwember 17, 186s.

IIWPRGVEMET IN ELECTRO-PLATING.

The Schedule rufen-ed to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

- metal coatings onartieles subject to wear; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, 'makingr a part of this speciication, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved appar'atus.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same'.

Figure 3 is a plan. y

Figure 4 represents a spoon lying in a position in which it is subjected to most wear, to provide for which is the object of my said invention.

`Figure 5 is aplau of myi mproved apparat-ns arranged with the tank and the ordinary apparatus used in electroplatin'g.

Figure 6 is a side elevation of my said apparatus, which exhibits an additional feature of improvement.

Similar letters corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention consists in placing or employing a movable and adjustable obstruction or device for obstructing and deilecting the electric current between part of the article upon which the metal is being deposited and the. pole ofthe battery, so as to canse the metal to deposit a thinner coating upon the parts of the article, in the line of and protected by the obstructing-device, and to deposit a thicker coating upon the parts of the article that are otherwise exposed; said' obstructing-device being variously shaped and applied,

-15o-adapt it to the form of the article to be plated, or -to the requirements growing out of the way it is used,

and the wear to which it is subjected.

My invention consists also in the construction of the rack or holder for holding the article to be plated, for the purpose of better keeping the article or articles in position to receive the deposit subject to the said obstruction.

By the modes heretofore practised, to deposit a, greater thickness of metal on one part 'of an article than upon the other, a patch of' met-a1 was first deposited or applied to the portion of the article where it was desired thaty the plating should be thickest, by fine-coating all the remaining portion of Vthe article with gutta-percha,asphaltunr, or other suitable noncouductor, leaving only exposed, (and consequently subject to the plating-pr'msess, the spots orplaces which are to receive the thicker patches of metL atter which the article is placed (immersed) in the bat-h, in the usual way to receive the deposit upon its unprotected port-ion, when the gutt-:r-perclra or like coating is removed, and the whole surface subjected to the plating-process, by which the patches iirst deposited receive the additional thickness that is deposited in common over the whole sru'f'ace.

By anotherrheth od, the f patch, consisting or a iilm, or piece of tlreplating, of the pi'oper size and form, is applied to the part that is required to be thicker, by inlaying or soldering it thereto, or bypressing it thereon, and afterwards placing it in the bath, and plating over the whole surface; and'by still another method, the piece or article was contined in a tilting holder, so arranged as to dip or immerse only those portions into the bath as were required to be plated the thicker, to form the iilnr or patch aibresaid, or immer-sin g diiilerent part-s of the article separately for diiierent periods of time, whereby those parts which are immersed for the longest period, have the plating-metal deposited thickest upon them. fs

By all these modes, the piticirh r pz rts of the artichthat require more or less than-'the common coating of plate, are required to be treated separately, which inv olvcs the necessity ofrepeated plating-operations, and

consequent manipulation, and -is otherwise expensive und objectionable; whereas, by my improved method, all parts are treated and receive their suitable coating of ditiercnt degrees of'rt'hickuess at once, without repeating any operation, by simply obstructing and defleeting the electric current, which carries and disposcs the material fi'orn its mrtural course in the bath, by certain devices, which regulate and control the distribution of' said material in greater or less thickness over the different parts of the article, according to the requirements o f its nature or use; the whole operation being perfor-ined by one immersion, without further manipulation or operation of any kind.

The difference between the methods above described of' partial plat-ing and replating, and my improved method of depositing a variable coating, that is, a coating or plating that is thicker in certain localities than -in others, on the article at-one operation or treatment., will be readily understrmd by those skilled in the art,

from the following description, to wit:

' For the sake of' convenience,"I have selected, for the purpose of illustrating the object of my said invention,

the article of' table-ware a spoon, which naturally rests on 'the table or other flat surface, as shown ln tig. 4, whereby the, bowl at c, and the handle at t', become soonest worn, and will show Athe baser' metal under the plating long betbrethc less exposed (to wear) portions are defaced. These parts, therefore, should receive a thicker coating of plat-nig, while the shank a and front of the handle require only a t-hin plating to endure the saure length of time; and this is accomplished by my improved process, during the operation of plating the entire surface of the article, as follows:

The said spoons are held in the rack, gs. 1 and 2, in oquidistant openings k, through the plato B, iig. 3, which openings are of a shape to receivc'and hold the spoons loosely by the shank, as shown, and also to per obstructing-plates may be of glass, wood, gutta-lau'eha,

ormctal coated with asphaltum, varnish, or other non- .oomlncting substance, 'lhey are shaped, and ot' a width inthis instance, it will 'be observed, to cover, the wider one, the inside of the bowl and front ot' the shank ot the spoon, while the narrower eovels the hack side ot' the shank simply, as seen in tig'. 2, and the closer thc plates MiN are placed to the articles.` the more perfect the obstruction they will atl'ord tothe electric cui-wut, and consctpwnt. detiection ofthe deposit,iso that the depositmay be ,rraduated to a ncety, by simply slidingi` the said platcsvnearer or further trom the article to he plated, as' it is held in the. rack.

.This lack, thus arranged, is vthen immersed in the solution contained in the tank ll, lig. 5, ami oml pole .Dof the battery attached to it, the other pole, l1, being vattached to the rod ti'om whieh the ,blocks or pieces,j,

of` plating-metal are suspended, and the metal is dcposited in directlinethrough the solution from said bloeksj,toaud upon, lirst,tho most prominent, nearer,

and more exposed parts, afterwards upon the remaining portions, so that by means ot' the said obstructions, the metal is dctlecte'd from the parts covered by thc obstructions, and deposited lnore immediately and thickly upon the more exposed parts.

Another form and use ofthe said obstruction are exhibited in fig. 6, in which an aperture is made through the ohstmction, at C, thiough which the electrieeurrent passes in a manner illustrated by arrows, and deposits thc metal up'on the particular part of the spoons bowl which has'becn herein described as subjected to the severest wear, while at the same time the deected current deposits athinner eoatingupon the other proteeted portion of the spoon. l

This method of making apertures in the obstruction or shield M N has a general application tothe plating ot' almost any shape or article, it being'only necessary to properly locate. the said apertics, and make them ot' the proper sizeand forni, tovohtaiu the desired re- .sult of Adeposit-ing, duringfthe platiug-ope1atiou,the

requisite extra thickness ot' plate or metal, where-on account of excessive.' exposure to wear, or for other cause, it is mostneeded.

.Having desel'llx-d my invention, What I claim, andv desire to secure by Letters Pat ent, isv The method, suhstantiallyas sot forth, of delaisiting ditlercnt thicknesses ot plating or metallic coating on diti'erent portions ot' an article at-oue operation, by

ohstrlu-ting,r and detiecting the electric current in thebath in its passage between the two poles, substantially as described.

Also, the rack or holder, tig. 1, orA its equivalent, for holding,y the, articles to be plated properly, and for 11s cciving;r und adjusting, by suitable means, the said obstrlu-ting-deyice, substantially in the manner demibed.

` JUSTIN P. WOODWORTH. Witnesses .lons P. ADAMS, J. F. ROBERTS.. 

